Ethiopian Folktales

The Foolish Parentsሞኞቹ ወላጆች

Amharaአማራ · 1 min readደቂቃ ንባብ

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Narrated by Kassa Alamrew

Once there was a foolish family with many children, so many that they can’t love them all. Most of them are dead, due to one reason: their parents want them to be good cowherds and when they are still small they tie the left hand of their son to the tail of one of the cows and send them to the green pasture. Pulled by the cow, the child’s arm was pulled out so he bled to death.

The cow came home with the arm attached to the tail, so the parents went to look for the child and found his body lying down. He mouth was full of ants.

“Oh! He’s been eating ants!” they said. “And he’s dead because he ate so many.”

The father beat him with a stick.

“Please stand up!”

But he was dead.

They told all their neighbours and the neighbours responded, “Ah! Ah! A little kid tied to a cow! How could you do this to a baby? Why don’t you learn from the last time? It’s better for you to die than to kill your children like this.”

ሞኞቹ ወላጆች

በካሣ አላምረው የተተረከ

በአንድ ወቅት ብዙ ልጆች የነበራቸውና ከልጆቻቸው መብዛት የተነሣ የማይወዷቸው ሞኝ ቤተሰቦች ነበሩ፡፡ ከልጆቹም አብዛኞቹ ገና በጨቅላነታቸው ግራ እጃቸው ከላሞቹ ጭራ ጋር እየታሰረ ወደ ዱር ስለሚሰደዱ ሞተው አለቁ፡፡ እጃቸው ካላሞቹ ጭራ ላይ እየተነቀለ ስለሚቀር ደም ፈሷቸው ይሞቱ ነበር፡፡

ታዲያ አንዷ ላም ጭራዋ ላይ ተቆርጦ የቀረውን እጅ ይዛ ወደቤት ስትመለስ ያዩት ወላጆች ልጁን ፍለጋ ሲሄዱ አስከሬኑ መንገድ ላይ ወድቆ ያገኙታል፡፡ አፉም በጉንዳኖች ተሞልቶ ነበር፡፡

እነርሱም “አሃ! ጉንዳኖች እየበላ ነበር!” አሉ፡፡ “የሞተውም በጣም ብዙ ጉንዳን በልቶ ነው፡፡”

አባትየውም “በል ተነስ!” እያለ በዱላ ቢደበድበውም ልጁ ሞቷል፡፡ ከዚያም ተመልሰው ለጎረቤቶቻቸው ስለሁኔታው ሲነግሯቸው ጎረቤቶቹም “ወይ ጉድ! ወይ ጉድ! አንድ ፍሬ ልጅ ላም ጭራ ላይ ታስሮ! እንዴት እንደዚህ ታደርጋላችሁ? ካለፈውስ ስህተታችሁ አትማሩም እንዴ? ልጆቻችሁን እንደዚህ አድርጋችሁ ከምትገድሏቸው እናንተው ራሳችሁ ብትሞቱ ይሻላል፡፡” አሏቸው ይባላል፡፡

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Check your understandingግንዛቤዎን ይፈትሹ

  1. What did the parents want their children to be?

  2. What did the parents tie to the tail of a cow?

  3. Where did the parents send the child after tying him to the cow?

  4. How did the child die?

  5. What did the parents see in the dead child's mouth?

  6. What did the father do when he found the child lying down?

For discussionለውይይት

  • The neighbours said the parents should learn from the last time. What does this tell us about what happened before in this family?
  • Why do you think the parents believed the child died from eating ants instead of understanding what really happened?
  • What lesson do you think this folktale is trying to teach people about how to treat their children?
  • How do you feel about the way the parents acted in this story? What should they have done differently?